Interestology [in-trist-ol-uh-jee]​​(noun) : The study of all things interesting

In what can only be described as one of the worst decisions from a business standpoint, running back Joe Mixon has declared for the NFL Draft while the recently released video of him punching Amelia Molitor is still fresh in the memory of the American public. The incident occurred over two years ago, but the Oklahoma Supreme Court recently ruled that a video of the incident had to be made public and it is jarring to say the least. In the video, Amelia Molitor shoves Mixon and then slaps him to which Mixon responds by hitting her with a right hook, breaking her jaw, orbital and cheek bone all in one flew swoop before leaving Pickleman’s Gourmet Cafe.

Sadly, the American public cares more about the optics of what happened rather than what actually happened. It was already public domain that Mixon broke Amelia’s face in multiple places so why did we need to see a video of the event actually taking place before the uproar ensued? I’m not entirely sure, but the fact remains that the video is jarring to say the least.

Now, what Joe should have done is play another season for the University of Oklahoma and let the situation die down rather than deciding to declare for the NFL Draft just a few weeks after the second video was made public. This decision will likely cost the running back millions of dollars as I projected him to be a first to second round pick though he will likely now fall between the fourth and sixth rounds, if he is drafted at all. The NFL already has a public perception problem with domestic violence running rampant in the league. Ray Rice still has been unable to find employment after the video of him hitting his fiancee Janay Rice in an elevator surfaced in September 2014. This will likely turn many teams away from Mixon even though he seems to have a skill-set that is unrivaled outside of Christian McCaffrey in the NCAA (though I believe that Mixon may actually be faster than Stanford standout running back).

Mixon says that he went home over the winter break and after praying with his family, deciding to declare for the NFL Draft but we can’t help but thinking his agent Peter Schaffer played a large role in helping him in coming to the decision of declaring early. Rather than playing another year in college and letting all of the controversy surrounding this heinous act die down, he decided that it was better to make money as soon as possible and we believe this is something he will regret for years to come. ​